UN Special Envoy for Road Safety appointment: a wrong signal!
Geert van Waeg (johanna.be)
Dear,
Last week, Jean Todt, head of the International Automobile Federation / Formula 1, was appointed as UN Special Envoy on Road Safety. While we acknowledge that safety is an integral part of F1 racing, it takes place in a very protected space that is designed for speed and where risk induced by and on other road users (including pedestrians, bicycles, crossing or meeting traffic flows, … ) has been eliminated to an extreme extend. We consider that appointing a person, so intimately linked to F1 racing, as UN Special Envoy for Road Safety provides an extremely dangerous messaging to the road user community. While speed is the number one cause of fatalities and injuries in all road user categories, this appointment implicitly conveys the message that speed can be compatible with road safety. The fact that this appointment happens during the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety is a mistake that severely impairs the goals of the Decade and creates perceptions that the UN is not serious about Road Safety.
At this moment, two initiatives have been taken to mark our disappointment / disapproval of this nomination. We would encourage you to support and disseminate both:
A) Open letter for organizations:
The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety drafted an open letter about the issue. You can find a copy of the letter in three languages:
English:
drive.google.com/file/d/0B-tiVw1CPXcNaXlxX25UdURPa2s/view
Français:
drive.google.com/file/d/0B-tiVw1CPXcNU21OS1R1U09XTDQ/view
Español
drive.google.com/file/d/0B-tiVw1CPXcNMVZmNmNzTVNnem8/view
To sign the letter as an organization, please fill out the fields below and submit no later than 07:00AM GMT on Friday, May 8.
B) Petition for individuals:
A petition has been started. Read more
about the petition and sign here:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Kimoon_WE_DISAPPROVE_OF_THE_CAR_LOBBY_APPOINTED_AS_UN_SPECIAL_ENVOY_ON_ROAD_SAFETY/?exuWqjb
Please react quickly and send this information through to your members, post it on social media.
Thanks and best regards
Geert van Waeg
President
International Federation of Pedestrians